1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shape and depth template for medical treatment (e.g. dosing, disrupting, ablating and/or cutting) applications such as the performance of cuts or incisions with treatment (e.g., laser) tips, particularly usable on tissue and, more particularly, usable in the context of exemplary applications such as hard tissue (e.g., bone) surgery.
The invention can be used particularly but not exclusively for providing osteotomy sites for dental implants.
The invention can also be applied in the execution of bone biopsies, the removal of calibrated bone samples for the most disparate uses in orthopedics, et cetera.
2. Description of Related Art
Until recently, the use of treatment-devices (e.g., lasers) in surgery was limited to the cutting of substantially soft tissues, since it was not possible to calibrate the power of, for instance, the laser for harder tissues.
Generally, if these devices (e.g., lasers) were applied to hard-tissue (e.g., bone) portions, they would burn said portions, with consequent death of the component cells.
Recently, new developments in medical treatment (e.g., laser) technologies have allowed devices such as lasers to perform incisions in bone tissues without burning them.
Scalpels with a laser tip are used for these incisions; the laser tips that are used can be different from one another. For example, the laser light of a laser tip can be conveyed by means of optical fibers, waveguide systems, or mirror systems; the laser of said scalpels may also be of the hydrokinetic type.